Mark Nieuwenhuijsen's research while affiliated with Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona and other places
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Publications (1,000)
Objective:
To quantify the number of avoidable annual deaths and associated economic benefits from meeting the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines for ambient concentrations for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) for Member States of the WHO Western Pacific Region.
Methods:
Using the AirQ+ software, we performed a quantitative he...
Background:
Urban areas are hot spots for human exposure to air pollution, which originates in large part from traffic. As the urban population continues to grow, a greater number of people risk exposure to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) and its adverse, costly health effects. In many cities, there is a need and scope for air quality improve...
Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the association between green space and health, and one of these is the restoration theory, based on the idea that it is possible to increase mental health and decrease stress visiting a natural environment. The aims of the present study were to understand what activities are most related to restorat...
Background:
High ambient temperatures are associated with many health effects, including premature mortality. The combination of global warming due to climate change and the expansion of the global built environment mean that the intensification of urban heat islands (UHIs) is expected, accompanied by adverse effects on population health. Urban gr...
Background: Health impact assessment (HIA) is a widely used process that aims to identify the health impacts, positive or negative, of a policy or intervention that is not necessarily placed in the health sector. Most HIAs are done prospectively and aim to forecast expected health impacts under assumed policy implementation. HIAs may quantitatively...
![Figure 2. PRISMA flow diagram of study search and selection [40].](publication/367256767/figure/fig2/AS:11431281113877334@1674134084872/PRISMA-flow-diagram-of-study-search-and-selection-40_Q320.jpg)
Environmental exposures are associated with children’s health. Schools are often urban exposure ‘hotspots’ for pollution, noise, lack of green space and un-walkable built environments. The aim of this systematic review was to explore the impact of school-based interventions on the modification of indoor and outdoor stressors related to the built an...
Early life is seen as a particularly sensitive period for environmental exposures. Natural space exposure during pregnancy has been associated with offspring health. Epigenetic gestational age acceleration, a discrepancy between clinical and DNA methylation-based gestational age, may underlie these associations. In 1359 mother-newborn pairs from th...
Gene‐environment interactions are important in understanding Alzheimer’s disease (AD) etiology. Current research is limited, possibly due to weak effects of individual genetic variants. We analysed interaction between genetics of hippocampal volume, environmental exposures and levels of AD biomarkers in cognitively unimpaired individuals at increas...
Climate change, urbanisation, chemical pollution and disruption of ecosystems, including biodiversity loss, affect our health and wellbeing. Research is crucial to be able to respond to the current and future challenges that are often complex and interconnected by nature. The HERA Agenda, summarised in this commentary, identifies six thematic resea...
Environmental exposures during early life play a critical role in life-course health, yet the molecular phenotypes underlying environmental effects on health are poorly understood. In the Human Early Life Exposome (HELIX) project, a multi-centre cohort of 1301 mother-child pairs, we associate individual exposomes consisting of >100 chemical, outdoo...
Research suggests that maternal exposure to natural environments (green and blue spaces) promotes healthy fetal growth. However, the available evidence is heterogeneous across regions, with very few studies on the effects of blue spaces. This study evaluated associations between maternal exposure to natural environments and birth outcomes in 11 bir...
In the past few decades, major public health advances have happened in Europe, with drastic decreases in premature mortality and a life expectancy increase of almost 9 years since 1980. European countries have some of the best health-care systems in the world. However, Europe is challenged with unprecedented and overlapping crises that are detrimen...
The GoGreenRoutes project (Horizon 2020/869764) aims to introduce co-created nature-based solutions (NBS) as interventions to enhance access to green space in six medium-sized European cities (Burgas, Lahti, Limerick, Tallinn, Umea, and Versailles). We analyzed the spatial distribution and health impacts associated with unequal exposure to air poll...
BACKGROUND AND AIM Recent studies have shown that active travel is generally associated with lower levels of both perceived and measured stress. Specific microenvironmental conditions encountered during daily journeys, however, may lead to varying degrees of stress experienced at that moment. Our aim is to evaluate how travel mode-specific stress,...
Many aspects of our life are related to our mobility patterns and individuals can exhibit strong tendencies towards routine in their daily lives. Intrapersonal day-to-day variability in mobility patterns has been associated with mental health outcomes. The study aims were: (a) calculate intrapersonal day-to-day variability in mobility metrics for t...
Background
In areas with moderate to severe air pollution, pollutant concentrations are associated with dementia risk. It is unclear whether the same relationship is present in regions with lower ambient air pollution.
Objective
To determine whether exposure to air pollution is associated with risk of incident dementia in general, and Alzheimer's...
Background and aims
Urban green space has many health benefits, but it is still unclear how much actually is needed for better health. Recently a new 3-30-300 rule of thumb for urban forestry and urban greening has been proposed, but this rule has not been evaluated for benefits on health. The rule requires that every citizen should be able to see...
Contact with natural environments is associated with good health and well-being. Although childhood nature experiences may be important in the development of an individual's relationship with nature and subsequent well-being, previous studies have tended to focus on ‘nature’ in general, and the mechanisms by which childhood experiences influence we...
Background
Globalisation has led to international trade expand rapidly. Seaborne transport moves 80% of traded goods across the globe, producing around 3% of greenhouse gases and other hazardous pollutants, such as PM, NOx and SOx, known to be harmful to health.
Methods
A scoping literature review was conducted reviewing peer-reviewed studies on h...
Bicycles are widely recognized as an effective solution for reducing short-distance trip-related climate impacts and addressing sedentary lifestyle-caused chronic diseases. Yet, the historical patterns of global bicycle production, trade, stock, and use remain poorly characterized, preventing thorough investigation of its role in sustainable road t...
Previous research has shown that walking and cycling could help alleviate stress in cities, however there is poor knowledge on how specific microenvironmental conditions encountered during daily journeys may lead to varying degrees of stress experienced at that moment. We use objectively measured data and a robust causal inference framework to addr...
Background
International sharing of cohort data for research is important and challenging. The LifeCycle project aimed to harmonise data across birth cohorts and develop methods for efficient federated analyses of early life stressors on offspring outcomes.
Aim
To explore feasibility of federated analyses of associations between four different typ...
Mobility in cities is changing with the appearance of electric micro-mobilities (EMMs), i.e. e-bikes, e-scooters, e-mopeds. We conducted a health impact assessment (HIA) of EMM use on the health of Barcelona adults. Assuming a 5% (S1) and 10% (S2) increase in EMM use, we modelled changes in physical activity (PA), personal air pollution exposure an...
Background
Physical activity and exercise capacity are key prognostic factors in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but their environmental determinants are unknown.
Objectives
To test the association between urban environment and objective physical activity, physical activity experience and exercise capacity in COPD.
Methods
We studied...
Background
The association between air pollution and green spaces with breast cancer risk stratified by menopausal status has not been frequently investigated despite its importance given the different impact of risk factors on breast cancer risk depending on menopausal status.
Objectives
To study the association between air pollution, green space...
This Series on urban design, transport, and health aimed to facilitate development of a global system of health-related policy and spatial indicators to assess achievements and deficiencies in urban and transport policies and features. This final paper in the Series summarises key findings, considers what to do next, and outlines urgent key actions...
Although cities can be characterised as sources of economic, environmental and social challenges, they can also be part of the solution for healthy and sustainable societies. While most cities are situated close to water, whether inland waterways, lakes, or the sea, these blue spaces are not integrated into urban planning to their full potential an...
Polymorphic genomic inversions are chromosomal variants with intrinsic variability that play important roles in evolution, environmental adaptation, and complex traits. We investigated the DNA methylation patterns of three common human inversions, at 8p23.1, 16p11.2, and 17q21.31 in 1,009 blood samples from children from the Human Early Life Exposo...
Background
The association between short-term exposure to air pollution and cognitive and mental health has not been thoroughly investigated so far.
Objectives
We conducted a panel study co-designed with citizens to assess whether air pollution can affect attention, perceived stress, mood and sleep quality.
Methods
From September 2020 to March 20...
Background
Urban environmental design is increasingly considered influential for health and wellbeing, but evidence is mostly based on adults and single exposure studies. We evaluated the association between a wide range of urban environment characteristics and health behaviours in childhood.
Methods
We estimated exposure to 32 urban environment c...
Responses to COVID-19 altered environmental exposures and health behaviours associated with non-communicable diseases. We aimed to (1) quantify changes in nitrogen dioxide (NO 2), noise, physical activity, and greenspace visits associated with COVID-19 policies in the spring of 2020 in Barcelona (Spain), Vienna (Austria), and Stockholm (Sweden), an...
Background
Road traffic is the main source of environmental noise in European cities and one of the main environmental risks to health and wellbeing. In this study we aimed to provide an in-depth assessment of available road traffic noise data and to estimate population exposure and health impacts for cities in Europe.
Methods
We conducted the ana...
Background
Evolving evidence suggests that vegetation surrounding schools is beneficial to children's academic performance, however vehicle emissions are adversely related. Little is known about concurrent impacts of vegetation and vehicle emissions on academic performance. This study examined associations of vegetation and vehicle emissions near u...
Purpose of Review
Features and attributes of the built environment (BE) impact positively and negatively on health, especially in cities facing unprecedented urban population growth and mass motorization. A common approach to assess the health impacts of built environment is health impact assessment (HIA), but it is rarely used in low- and middle-i...
Responses to COVID-19 altered environmental exposures and health behaviours associated with non-communicable diseases. We aimed to (1) quantify changes in nitrogen dioxide (NO2), noise, physical activity, and greenspace visits associated with COVID-19 policies in the spring of 2020 in Barcelona (Spain), Vienna (Austria), and Stockholm (Sweden), and...
Background
Currently, more than half of the global population lives in cities. Contemporary urban planning practices result in environmental risk factors (e.g. air pollution, noise, lack of green space, excess heat) that put health and well-being of city dwellers at risk and contribute to chronic diseases and premature death. Despite a growing body...
Exposure to air pollution influences children's health, however, the biological mechanisms underlying these effects are not completely elucidated. We investigated the association between short- and medium-term outdoor air pollution exposure with protein profiles and their link with blood pressure in 1170 HELIX children aged 6–11 years. Different ai...
This cross-cultural study explores the relationship of natural outdoor environment (NOE) use with NOE access. Most urban planning recommendations suggest optimal accessibility to be 300 m–500 m straight distance to spaces with vegetation of at least 1 hectare. Exploring this recommendation, we used data (n = 3947) from four European cities collecte...
Introduction
The European climate is getting warmer and the impact on childhood health and development is insufficiently understood. Equally, how heat-related health risks can be reduced through nature-based solutions, such as exposure to urban natural environments, is unknown. Green CURe In Outdoor CITY spaces (Green CURIOCITY) will analyse how he...
Introduction
Cities have long been known to be society’s predominant engine of innovation and wealth creation, yet they are also hotspots of pollution and disease partly due to current urban and transport practices. The aim of the European Urban Burden of Disease project is to evaluate the health burden and its determinants related to current and f...
Background
While the health risks of air pollution attract considerable attention, both scholarly and within the general population, citizens are rarely involved in environmental health research, beyond participating as data subjects. Co-created citizen science is an approach that fosters collaboration between scientists and lay people to engage th...
Background
The urban environment may influence neurodevelopment from conception onwards, but there is no evaluation of the impact of multiple groups of exposures simultaneously. We investigated the association between early-life urban environment and cognitive and motor function in children.
Methods
We used data from 5403 mother–child pairs from f...
Background
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a highly prevalent condition that requires a comprehensive and coordinated response across sectors and disciplines.
Aims
In the absence of a multisectoral framework to tackle this condition, we developed one using the sustainable development goals (SDGs) as the basis for converging thinking a...
Living in urban areas with abundant greenness might provide health benefits in general population. Literature suggests that sex/gender plays a role in the association between greenness and health outcomes. But the impact of greenness in populations with moderate to high cardiovascular risk, such as persons with diabetes, is still unknown. Our aim w...
The airway macrophages carbon loading (AMCL) has been suggested to be a biomarker of the long-term exposure to air pollution; however, to date no study has characterized AMCL for the pregnancy period. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the determinants of AMCL during pregnancy in Iran, a middle-income country. This study was based on a sample of...
Background:
Biking plays a significant role in urban mobility and has been suggested as a tool to promote public health. A recent study has proposed 2050 global biking scenarios based on large shifts from motorized vehicles to bikes. No previous studies have estimated the health impacts of global cycling scenarios, either future car-bike shift sub...
Motivated by a growing recognition of the climate emergency, reflected in the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26), we outline untapped opportunities to improve health through ambitious climate actions in cities. Health is a primary reason for climate action yet is rarely integrated in urban climate plans as a policy goal. This is a missed opport...
Background:
Emerging evidence links ambient air pollution with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) disease, an association that is methodologically challenging to investigate.
Objectives:
We examined the association between long-term exposure to air pollution with SARS-CoV-2 infection measured through antibody response, level of antibody response among...
Background
Stress is one of many ailments associated with urban living, with daily travel a potential major source. Active travel, nevertheless, has been associated with lower levels of stress compared to other modes. Earlier work has relied on self-reported measures of stress, and on study designs that limit our ability to establish causation.
Ob...
Background
Growing cross-sectional evidence links access to green-blue spaces with mental health benefits, but studies at an individual level and at a national population scale are scarce. This gap can be addressed through the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank, which allows household-level green-blue spaces access and exposure d...
Background
Evidence that greenspaces are related to mental health and wellbeing mostly relies on residential exposure and few studies have considered actual use. We aimed to link the National Survey for Wales (NSW) to environmental metrics to determine whether there is an association between increased residential exposure to greenspace and subjecti...
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are fatal for more than 38 million people each year and are thus the main contributors to the global burden of disease accounting for 70% of mortality. The majority of these deaths are caused by cardiovascular disease. The risk of NCDs is strongly associated with exposure to environmental stressors such as pollutants...
Background
There is evidence to suggest that long term exposure to air pollution could be associated with decreased levels of fertility, although there is controversy as to how short term exposure may compromise fertility in IVF patients and what windows of exposure during the IVF process patients could be most vulnerable.
Methods
This prospective...
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are fatal for more than 38 million people each year and are thus the main contributors to the global burden of disease accounting for 70% of mortality. The majority of these deaths are caused by cardiovascular disease. The risk of NCDs is strongly associated with exposure to environmental stressors such as pollutants...
The early-life exposome influences future health and accelerated biological aging has been proposed as one of the underlying biological mechanisms. We investigated the association between more than 100 exposures assessed during pregnancy and in childhood (including indoor and outdoor air pollutants, built environment, green environments, tobacco sm...
Background
Urban environments are characterised by many factors that may influence children’s lifestyle and increase the risk of childhood obesity, but multiple urban exposures have scarcely been studied.
Objective
We evaluated the association between multiple urban exposures and childhood obesity outcomes and weight-related behaviours.
Methods
W...
Early life stages are vulnerable to environmental hazards and present important windows of opportunity for lifelong disease prevention. This makes early life a relevant starting point for exposome studies. The Advancing Tools for Human Early Lifecourse Exposome Research and Translation (ATHLETE) project aims to develop a toolbox of exposome tools a...
Background:
Natural outdoor environments including green spaces play an important role in preserving population health and wellbeing in cities, but the number of deaths that could be prevented by increasing green space in European cities is not known. We aimed to estimate the number of natural-cause deaths among adult residents that could be preve...
Background
Air quality contributes to incidence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) although the underlying neurobiological mechanisms are unclear. This study was aimed to examine the association between air pollution and concentrations of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD biomarkers and amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition.
Participants and methods
The sample included 15...
Cities are centres of innovation and wealth creation, but also hotspots of air pollution and noise, heat island effects and lack of green space, which are all detrimental to human health. They are also hotspots of COVID19. COVID19 has led to a rethink of urban public space. Therefore, is it time to re-think our urban models and reduce the health bu...
Background
Understanding the effect of occupational exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) during pregnancy on inadequate fetal growth as measured by small-for-gestational age (SGA) and as measured by percentage of optimal birth weight (POBW) is not well understood.
Methods
We studied 4142 pregnant women who were in paid employment durin...
